Suspected Plant Thief Caught with Heroin

MAHWAH, N.J. — Mahwah police tracked down a 31-year-old food service worker who they said was captured on surveillance video swiping plants from an Airmont home — and then did the same in Suffern.

Just before 3 p.m., Mahwah Police Sgt. Michael Blondin and Officers John Rodriguez and Thomas Mitchell spotted the reported SUV on Airmont Road and stopped it.
Suffern police issued an alert Tuesday after receiving a report of a man stealing pots of plants from a Yorkshire Drive residence.

Daniel DiBenedetto, 31, of Suffern, “had some of the plants in the vehicle,” Blondin told Daily Voice. “We watched the video during the stop — you could see it was him.”

Mahwah police charged DiBenedetto with heroin and drug paraphernalia possession and issued traffic violations. They also contacted their colleagues from Suffern and Ramapo. A search turned up heroin after Mitchell spotted drug paraphernalia, he added.

A day earlier, Airmont resident Neela Pawaroo Narraine said she was “in total disbelief” watching a surveillance video of her plants being stolen from in front of her home.